Honeymoon package
 

Does anyone offer a "honeymoon" package? I am thinking about buying a couple of cheap sony HDV cams and let the couple take them on their honeymoon. When they get back we will edit a highlight of their trip.

Has anyone had any success with this, and how do you handle the fact that the camera probably won't come back in the best condition or at all?

honeymoon
 

Sound like a great idea! I think i may try that one out

shawn
expressionsvideo.net

I had this idea about a year or so ago, and the more I thought it through the more I had reservations about it.

First, you have no idea what kind of footage you are going to end up with. You're giving a camera to people who don't shoot video for a living, so it's entirely possible that the footage they bring back could be borderline useless. Yet they might have high expectations of you working a miracle with it.

Second, you have no idea how much footage they might bring back. What if they only think to use the camera a few times? Maybe they come back with 5 minutes of "blah" footage. Then what do you do? On the flip side, what if they use 10 tapes and now you have to capture and sort through all of that. It could be very time consuming and you likely won't get paid properly for the time required.

Third, what about camera liability? Sure, if they break the camera outright and admit to it then you just have them pay for replacement. But what if they say the camera just stopped working? What if they bring it back and it seems to be working fine but they got sand and salt in it from having it at the beach and it breaks down on the next trip? What if it gets stolen, or they claim it was stolen?

Fourth, many couples already have a handycam of their own, so their not going to want to pay to use yours. Then what? Now you have to have two different packages; one with your camera and one with theirs.

I still really like the appeal of this idea, but the first three potential problem areas have kept me from offering it as an option just yet. Instead, I'm offering a honeymoon photo montage option right now, and even then I just had a couple get back from their honeymoon with literally only a dozen or so pictures taken. What do you do with that? Not much. I can only think this would be more of an issue with video.

Not trying to douse your inspiration, but I've had this idea in my head for a while now and just haven't figured out how to offer it in a way that made me feel comfortable about it.

Travis - I agree completely. Those are the same issues I was thinking would come up and seeing if it was even worth the trouble. It would be a neat idea if everything went well and I guess you could limit the number of tapes allowed for capture. Also, what happens if you have a really outgoing couple that trys to film "certain aspects of a honeymoon" and want the act put on DVD...too many variables

Exactly. There are a lot of variables that make me nervous, but there's also a strong appeal that won't allow me to fully let go of the idea yet, lol.

I love the idea but I agree that it's probably a nightmare waiting to happen.